IndyCar top-10s for McLaughlin, Dixon
- NZ Sports Wire
- Apr 14
- 2 min read
New Zealand drivers Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon have lost further ground in the IndyCar drivers' championship.
Despite finishing in the top-10 at the Grand Prix of Long Beach in California on Sunday (Monday NZ Time), both have fallen further behind leader Alex Palou, who finished second behind Kyle Kirkwood.
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McLaughlin started and finished sixth on the streets of Long Beach, picking up two spots in the standings as he moved ahead of Penske teammate Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi.
Dixon, who led two laps, finished eighth after starting 14th, dropping to fifth overall - overtaken by third-placed Christian Lundgaard and fourth-placed Felix Rosenquist.
It was Dixon's 300th top-10 result in the CART and IndyCar series.
The six-time IndyCar champion hit the wall at turn six twice on Saturday, during practice and qualifying, necessitating repairs before being able to resume.
The third New Zealander on the grid, Dixon's Chip Ganassi teammate Marcus Armstrong, started seventh, led the race for one lap on lap seven, before fading to finish 14th, the same position he occupies in the standings.
Dixon is now 56 points back of Palou after three races on the 17-race schedule, while McLaughlin is a further 17 points adrift.
The next race of the IndyCar series is the Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsport Park in Birmingham, Alabama on May 4.
Meanwhile, Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen's struggles in the Nascar Cup Series continued at the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Van Gisbergen qualified 36th for the 500-lap race at the half-mile colosseum in rural Tennessee but dropped two spots to finish 38th of 39 drivers.
Since finishing sixth at the Circuit of the Americas in early-March, van Gisbergen has finished 31st, 34th, 32nd, 34th, 20th and 38th on oval tracks.
The next race of the Nascar season is at Talladega, a super speedway where van Gisbergen has shown some promise, in Alabama on April 27.
